Thursday, April 21, 2011

Parade

An interesting bit of videotape:

Filmed by the Lumiere Brothers, this is said to be the first thing ever filmed in Chicago. Can anyone recognize the building? My best guess is that it's Bridewell Prison (too dark to be the coliseum). I thought it might be the Chicago Day Parade in October, 1896, but I think it was actually earlier than that.

We know we've got a bunch of retirees reading, but we don't think any go back that far.

said... now those are some real mustaches, and they don't have tazers or computers or radios--- how the hell did they ever do police work ??????

4/21/2011 12:31:00 AM

Yeras ago, before hair gel police, there was no use of force model. You were given a stick, star and gun. Everyone feared the police and no one resisted. The police controlled and owned the street. Today, apathy rules. Now gang bangers will not hesitate to run over police or shoot at police. Really, do gang bangers fear the police or the court system in Chicago? After years with JFLED and now 1300 spar forms. Imagine coppers from 1900's handling Bulls riots!

The “birth” of motion pictures is generally credited by historians to December of 1895, when the brothers Auguste and Louis Lumiere held in Paris the first public presentation of their invention the “cinematographe” (a combination movie camera, printer and projector). This is believed to be the first time large-scale film projection occurred before a viewing public (as opposed to the movies that had previously been seen only on peep-show machines like Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope). Incredibly, the first motion picture ever shot in Chicago, the still extant Chicago défilé de policemen (Chicago Police Parade), was made only months after the Lumieres’ demonstration.

The cinematographe:

The popularity of the cinematographe led the Lumieres to dispatch cameramen all over the world so audiences could see, for the first time ever, real-time moving images of how people from different countries and cultures lived, worked and played. The aptly titled Chicago Police Parade is a 45 second film of 144 Chicago Police officers walking down a wide street (possibly Wabash Avenue) and past a stationary camera. The officers are formally dressed and carrying billy clubs. Amusingly, it appears that approximately 142 of the officers are sporting large mustaches. Bringing up the rear of the parade is a horse drawn carriage.

As with other Lumiere productions of the period (including the masterpiece Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat), the camera is positioned at an oblique angle so that the policemen appear to walk “diagonally” from the rear of the frame to the front. This perspective puts greater emphasis on the depth of field of the image, with a clear demarcation of background, middle ground and foreground, and also serves as a good example of just how well composed the Lumiere brothers’ films were. However, Chicago Police Parade was not made by either of the brothers themselves but instead by one of their favorite cinematographers, a Frenchman of Italian descent named Alexandre Promio. The very next year Promio would become a major footnote in motion picture history by effectively inventing camera movement; he took his camera to Venice and placed it on board of a gondola!

Holy shit, the department used to be made up of clones of recently retired 010 1st watch desk Sgt. Mckitrick!!

4/21/2011 12:32:00 AM

Picture each one of those marchers screaming at some random outside unit seeking arrest report approval " I don't care how many baggies he has, YOU CAN'T ARREST SOMEONE FOR JUST HAVING A LOT OF BAGGIES!!!"

it looks like not a single one was under 6'4" 225 lbs... can you imagine an entire PD being "goon squad" eligible? the public would break wind & cry about "too unfriendly looking and too intimidating."

Will Rahm be pirouetting on stage during St Jude's IF we play that music?

4/21/2011 12:39:00 AM

Daley never could be bothered to come to St Jude although he pissed himself for CFD.

Don't expect Rahm either. Anything more will be a surprise. I could care less if any mayor ever comes to St Jude. Fuck them, it isn't for them. They will just hog media attention end draw news people for the wrong reasons.

I remember seeing old photos of Cpd from that era. These mostly Irishmen/Catholics were hired for brains and brawn at very low pay because the signs at the Chicago manufacturing plants and retailers windows clearly stated "Help Wanted" No Black or Irish need Apply. These men desperate for any job took the steady work and evolved into proud LEOs that nobody wanted to take on. You could sleep out in your back yard/ leave the windows open on hot summer nights and no worry! The less fitness requirements obviously caused the fat/messy/moronic/gangbangers etc being hired during the past decade...sigh....retired real police Ps to the approx 1 in 10 real police officer(s) hired in the past 10 years I thank you for your service.

>>> To: Yeras ago, before hair gel police, there was no use of force model. You were given a stick, star and gun. <<<

Not exactly, I worked on historical projects for the department years ago. New recruits reported to their station and got a lecture from an Inspector. They were given a bolt of cloth and sent to a tailor to have a uniform made. They were given a star, cap shield (the ones we changed go back that far) but NO GUN. Many did carry pocket "virtue pieces".